Center for Writing Excellence & Newsletter & Contest

The Center for Writing Excellence is seeking contributions to the free newsletter, "Excellent Writing." Contributors are encouraged to include their bio and contact information.

There are guidelines at http://janiewrites.com/newsletter/writers-guidelines/

The newsletter is released the first Monday of each month. Subscribers are allowed a free classified ad.

A contest with the deadline to enroll of September 30, 2o11 is also being held. Entrants get five days to write 700-1000 words based on a prompt. See: http://janiewrites.com/writing-contests/a-fiction-in-five-rules/ for more information. There is a nominal entry fee.

The C4WE also offers classes, as well as webcasts, for a very reasonable price.

National Writing Project Is In Danger of Being Cut

The National Writing Project is a non-profit organization and the mission statement is " The National Writing Project focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners."

To save this nationwide network of teachers go to http://www.causes.com/causes/591544-save-the-national-writing-project It is at risk due to the budget crisis.

The National Writing Project Newsletter e-voice is part of the National Writing Project, which is

dedicated to "improving writing and learning in the nation's schools."

The website is www.nwp.org

Santa Clara County 2nd Poet Laureate Sally Ashton

Sally Ashton, 2nd Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County, began her 2 year stint on April 1, 2011.
She is an excellent, encouraging poetry teacher, attended San Jose State University, and edits the DMQ Review, which is an online journal. She possesses an MFA, which she earned through Bennington. She also received the honor of an Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Arts Council Silicon Valley.

Ashton has won numerous awards for her fine poetry and been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She founded and directed the California Poets Festival. She supports the SJSU student group Poets and Writers Coalition. She has been published and this summer led a poetry workshop in Portugal.

Ashton has performed notable readings including with Nils Peterson, the first Santa Clara Poet Laureate, and been part of the Poetry Center San Jose for years.

Her project as Poet Laureate has been a call for the public to choose favorite poems. Readings of these favorite poems, as well as others, will begin on September 18 at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble on Stevens Creek Blvd. in San Jose.